Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

It has the same benefits as most travel rewards credit cards and there are no annual fees and FTF (Foreign transaction fee)..

Well, I know everybody is looking for different things when signing up for credit cards but really, I don't get why the other ones are always "among the best"??? I applied for the CAP one Cash rewards which has the same benefits as the BOA one and was declined. I was approved for the BOA travel rewards with a $5000 limit! This my highest limit so far on all my credit cards. So, **bleep** with Cap ONE? Is it jut the name or what? I just don't get it!

Re: Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

Well, BoA does not have the best name around here. Let's see... bad customer service, CLD, balance chasing, pretty much always a hard pull for CLI, etc., and I'm sure others could chime in with much more.

With that being said, I have the BoA Travel Rewards Visa. I've had a Platinum Priority Visa with them since 2002, and this year got the offer to PC it to the Travel Rewards. All my terms (9.9% interest rate, etc.) remained the same, and I got a great BT offer at 0%, so I took it. I've only had it for 2 months, and I pretty much maxed it out with the BT. However, the positive in all this is that it changed to a Signature card, and BoA is one of the few that does not report the credit limit on siggy cards (except for Experian).

I really won't be using the card/any of its travel benefits until I pay it down to a zero balance, but yeah, so far I like it.

Re: Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

It has the same benefits as most travel rewards credit cards and there are no annual fees and FTF (Foreign transaction fee)..

Well, I know everybody is looking for different things when signing up for credit cards but really, I don't get why the other ones are always "among the best"??? I applied for the CAP one Cash rewards which has the same benefits as the BOA one and was declined. I was approved for the BOA travel rewards with a $5000 limit! This my highest limit so far on all my credit cards. So, **bleep** with Cap ONE? Is it jut the name or what? I just don't get it!

Welcome Lexie; in addition to what TNT stated (though I personally have never had an issue with BOFA that wasn't my own fault on their credit cards) the Travel Rewards and it's Preferred version have only been around for the last half year or so it simply isn't as entrenched both here and in the market in general as the travel cards from Chase, Amex, et al.

That said, it is an excellent card and has received good reviews here on the forum, and for me it's still in my plan for acquiring eventually as a PC from my current 1-2-3 card (post BCP acquisition in '14 sometime).

Re: Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

I personally have this card. Besides from the reasons others have mentioned, Bank of America also hasn't made an effort to publicize and develop this card. First of all, the travel booking site is poorly designed. Actually, the whole membership website is poorly designed. It takes considerable effort to find their online mall, also known as the Add-It-Up program, which you have to manually enroll in. Secondly, they don't explain very well the redemption options for the points; even the personal banker I talked with about the card was confused about its benefits. And most importantly, I feel like general travel rewards cards are not as popular as cash back rewards or airlines- or hotel-sponsored cards, which are more flexible or more lucrative.

I also have a personal issue with my card being a Visa Signature. Bank of America doesn't report the credit limit, so the high limit on the card doesn't help my credit history unless I charge a lot on the card in one month to bump the reported high balance which is treated as a credit limit for credit scoring purposes.

Re: Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

Well, I would personally say that BofA Travel Rewards is one of the best cards for my purposes at least out of those I have in my wallet.

I see the following immediate benefits:

1,5% cashback for all purchases - this won't obviously beat 3% or 6% for groceries with Amex BCE (BCP), or 5% on rotating categories with Discover More or Freedom, but usually there's still plenty of categories not covered by any active promotions. I charge them all to this card.

0% FTF - it is still quite uncommon for cards with 0 AF and it is very important for me as I spend a lot of time abroad

Proper Chip&Pin to be used while travelling in Europe

In addition to this I got a 0% APR for 12 months after applying for this card and $100 sign-up bonus. Of course, not something outstanding, but still quite a good deal.

Talking about bad side - I am pretty much concerned about my CLs with BofA. At least in my case they seem to be overconservative - while I was already getting cards like Discover More and Chase Amazon with $3k+ CLs, they denied my CLI request for my Cash Rewards card that is STILL at $500 level after more than a year (and I also wasted a HP on that). They have also declined my initial application for Travel Rewards and I was able to get it only after recon. That said, I doubt this card would grow much, but who knows (I read stories of people easily getting initial CLs with BofA around 8-10k without having any previous relationship with them).

Re: Just wondering...why isn't BOA travel rewards as popular as the other ones???

Your unique situation makes this card especially helpful, but again, your situation is very unique. Since I spend most of my time in America, I do most of my online shopping through ShopDiscover, and use cards that offer at least 2% on grocery purchases for grocery shopping. The purchases that don't fall into either category make up a small percentage of my annual spending, making the extra .5% cash back almost worthless.

That being said, I think for people with less than excellent credit, this is a good card. If you have a BofA checking account, you earn 1.65 points on each dollar. If you don't want to spend the time to do research on diversifying your credit card portfolio and insist on having just one card for all purchases, this card would actually be on my recommended list.

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